ARTICLES

The Long Bow Appeal
An Update

Geremie R. Barmé

The noxious action brought against the Boston-based Long Bow film-making group by Jenzabar Inc., Chai Ling 柴玲 and her husband Robert Maginn was dismissed by the Superior Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in early December 2010. The case against Long Bow, which is run by Richard Gordon and Carma Hinton, long-term colleagues and collaborators of the writer, was found to be baseless.

For material related to this case, please see, the Long Bow website, at:

'The Long Bow Appeal', in the June 2009 issue of China Heritage Quarterly, at:

And,

'The Boston Long Bow Group, Chai Ling and “The Gate of Heavenly Peace”: Geremie R. Barmé responds to "China Beat"', 26 April 2009, at:

For an article on the subject of the dismissal published by The Boston Globe on 19 December 2010, see Yvonne Abrams, 'A Victory for Free Speech', at: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/12/19/a_victory_for_free_speech/?p1=Features_link9

But here I am writing in a mood of delicious irony. Wherein this irony? You see, Ms Chai, who has for years tried to censor Long Bow's work as well as to close down our website (www.tsquare.tv) attended the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo with her entourage. I presume they were basking in the reflected parhelic glow of the incarcerated Liu Xiaobo 刘晓波. I would note that in the past Ms Chai and members of her cohort have devoted much time and energy to denouncing Liu Xiaobo and others who dared challenge their account of what they did, and did not do, in 1989. An added irony is that in doing so they have often employed similar rhetoric to that of the Chinese authorities (in this context, see my 'Totalitarian Nostalgia', at: http://www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/features.php?searchterm=018_1989nostalgia.inc&issue=018).

I would note that Ms Chai has, since the 8 October 2010 announcement of Liu Xiaobo's Nobel Peace Prize, claimed that in actual fact she and Liu Xiaobo had 'bonded' in the early hours of 4 June (see: http://www.allgirlsallowed.org/former-chinese-protest-leader-chai-ling-hails-nobel-peace-prize-award-liu-xiaobo). Of that claim I have remarked elsewhere that: 'Farce always reaches new depths when Ms Chai is involved... Now, if the Nobel Laureate were free to speak....'

Of course, Ms. Chai seems to have found herself on the Road to Damascus before (viz, her conversion to Christianity). In the lead up to 4 June 2010, for instance, she even stated that she'd be dropping her lawsuit against the Long Bow Group, although she didn't fail to decry us as 'witless/unwitting tools of Satan' (Moguide wuzhi gongju 魔鬼的無知工具). I would note that these statements, while garnering a few more ephemeral headlines, did not result in any bankable Christian charity.

As for the Jenzabar-Long Bow case, I believe Ms Chai et al will 'appeal to the highest court in the land' in their tireless search for truth and justice.

In the meantime, on behalf of Carma and Richard I would like to thank all the readers of China Heritage Quarterly who signed the Long Bow Petition, and who have supported Long Bow during these difficult years.